Senior Ahram Online reporter Dina Ezzat received Italy's Maria Grazia Cutuli international journalism award in Rome on Monday..  

Ezzat won the award in the Foreign Press Section for her coverage of the Middle East and Egypt during the Arab Spring of 2011, according to the award's website. 

For the past 30 years, Ezzat has been working as a journalist in Cairo.

She embarked on her journalism career after graduating from the Faculty of English Studies at Ain Shams University in 1988.

In 1987, Ezzat joined Al-Ahram as an intern.

Since then, she has been working on the politics and diplomacy beats for Al-Ahram Weekly and Ahram Online.

Ezzat is also the Al-Ahram Weekly deputy editor-in-chief.

She has also been reporting on Egyptian and regional political and social and cultural affairs, with a special focus on covering inter-Arab relations, Egyptian foreign relations, political groups in Egypt and women rights. 

Ezzat has been a frequent contributor for various publications including the privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk.

She has interviewed world leaders including Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, Palestinian leaders Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, Iraqi leaders before and after the 2003 war, as well as Hamas leaders following their ascent to power in Gaza in 2006.

This prestigious prize is in honour of Sicilian-born journalist Maria Grazia Cutuli, who was killed in an explosion on 19 November 2001 on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan.